Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Dev Update #42 - VRidge 2.2.5 Beta (Release Candidate)

We have additional Beta patch release that addresses the issues reported with the Beta version. This version is a release candidate so if there are no major issues it will go live to everyone in a short time.

New distribution method for Gear VR and Oculus Go

We are awaiting approval at Oculus Home - please use normal Sideload method for now

Installing Gear VR and Oculus Go version was really troublesome. That’s why we intend to finally make VRidge available on Oculus Home store. Before we do that, we need a way to easily install Beta releases for this devices - Beta versions cannot be live on the store as it’s opt-in only.

That’s why we went for code distribution method. Every RiftCat user will be able to generate special key code which will install VRidge Beta after entering it in Oculus Home store. To learn how it works - simply read our tutorial here.

New languages available

Thanks to your great translation effort via CrowdIn we were able to update previously added languages and deploy six new ones. These languages are:

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Korean

Lithuanian

Bulgarian

There might still be mistakes in translations but we believe that with each review phase at CrowdIn our community will be able to make them perfect.

You guys are awesome and are doing tremendous job. We strongly believe that we have the best VR community there is - we can always count on you, that’s why we will do our best to never let you down!

Enhancements

Multiple Android optimizations

CPU usage should be lower across all Android devices.

On average, you should see 15-20% system CPU load instead of 50-60%

This also means that heat generation should be significantly lower resulting in less "device too hot to run VR" errors.

In extremely rare cases this may lower VRidge performance. See this explanation to disable those optimizations.

Image should now be crisper on some Daydream devices.

This should be quite noticeable at 1440p resolution as unintentional downscaling and filtering was in effect until now.

Field of View values of headset are now properly passed to SteamVR.

It should improve image quality, especially on headsets with asymmetric FoV.

Changed the way "End of Trial session" message is being displayed to user.

Instead of displaying message (in one eye only due to very old bug) it will go back to lobby with localized notification message.

Closing notes

This update brings us very close to final 2.2 version release. We don’t expect any major issues with this version but if anything will show up, let us know - it is very important to make this version error free. Soon every VRidge user with Vive SDK, Daydream SDK and Oculus SDK compatible device will be able to have fun with jitterless VRidge!

Thank you for all your work during tests. We hope that you will have a pleasant experience during this last testing phase.

I am unable to use Oculus home because my phone refuses to install Facebook. Thus unable to install anything from the Oculus store. I cannot even enjoy my gear VR fully because of this. Would it be possible to get it via another method? I do have a purchased version.

Sorry but for me its not a very great news.. Users like me have devices with a Lot of drift... Im playing with a moto g5S plus and have binded a Button on joystick to recenter...so i Could recenter each Time that the device drifts. Could you add a switch to block or not such feature? Because for me is a death to the ve expierence on riftcat. Thanks for the updates btw, shows how much effort you putt into this. Keep it up! And greetings from Argentina!

Update great in terms of visuals. With lg g4 on 1440p now everything looks way better. Also fov for me is very good. Unfortunatly there is downside related to android cpu optimisation. Now it feels like 30 fps despite is set to 60. I tried, as was written in explanation, to set mode to aggressive, but it resulted in mobile app crash.Greetings!

Please contact us at support@riftcat.com to follow up on this problem more easily since it seems to be isolated issue. Use the same name or write a quick note that you are Przemysław from blog comments so we'll know that's you.

Very interesting. Version 2.2.3 worked as a charm, but this 2.2.5 is very choppy with the same configuration (GearVR + S8), it's obviously unusable for me. The same happens after reinstalling both the desktop and the mobile apps. Strange...

I use Gear VR and S7, with a 500Mbs 5.4GHz wifi connection, here are the results:Recenter function on gearVR touchpad still not working like in previous version;Frame losses randomlly with artifacts even if I keep rates as low as 1 Mbps. Usually it takes 5 seconds with a good connection and then comes artifacts, again and again, even if a push the rate down to 1 Mbs... which is unusable. My PC is stable at 325 Mbps, my smartphone at minimum of 236 Mbps. I have already tried to bring the router closer, which gave me 580Mbps but the artifacts and frame losses persists. I changed my computer, tried another one, no way. Wifi always gives me too much losses. USB connection is ok on the other hand, it is ok with the other version of vridge.

Touchpad-recenter was removed as it was using the same input path as controller input but I understand that it might be still useful for users with older Gear VR headsets. We might add an option to toggle between controller/touchpad mode in next version.

As for the other problems, please contact us at support@riftcat.com as it looks like an isolated problem.

We will leave 2.1.5 on Sideload and create more options to sideload older builds for users preferring to stick to older versions in the future.

Redmi 5 plus and Vridge 2.2.5 = after the VR mode is turned on in the Riftcat, the dead picture of Steam Room appears on the phone, and the computer reconnects to the phone every 5 seconds.(I have bad English, google translator shit.)